Leadership

Collaborating and Leading to Promote a Shared Vision 2

 in Leadership / Professional Learning / Vision  tagged induction / new school year / new teacher / system address by

Establishing a vision to work towards is an important component of implementing and achieving positive movement forward. Without a vision, it can be all to easy to spend a lot of time doing a lot of things that don’t colletively contribute to anything. Without a shared vision, it can be truly difficult to “get all the ducks marching in the same direction,” or difficult to marshal and deploy the appropriate resources. And without a clear, shared vision, it can be difficult for stakeholders to have a sense what you’re all about, whether it is of any value to them, and close to impossible for them to know whether you’re achieving any success with it at all.

“You’ve got to think about big things while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.”
— Alvin Toffler

MoreThanWordsCanSayI recall my very first “new teacher induction meeting,” all those years ago (19, I think), when the then-Director of Education for the district assembled all of the new hires together during the last week of August (right about now, say) and welcomed us with a visionary and passionate speech about the careers upon which we were about to embark. I remember remarking at the time that he was one of the most eloquent and dynamic speakers I had ever heard, and was conscious at the time of his powerful use of metaphor and careful, poet’s choice of words in crafting his talk. I was impressed to the point that I was motivated to go up and speak with him when the session ended. (Imagine that, a new teacher, approaching the Director of Education on the first day of induction — and yet, why not?). Our conversation continued from the meeting room along the hallway, and concluded at his office, where he picked up a recently released book of essays on literacy from his desk and offered it to me to take away and use with my students. Imagine that. Welcome, and here’s a Vision, and here’s a Book of Inspiration.

“Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
— Mark Twain

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
— John Quincy Adams

Fast forward a bit, say three or four years later. Back then (in the olden days, before a goodly number of our Professional Activity days were removed by government decree in the mid-nineties) we used to have a designated “Federation Day,” which was a once-a-year opportunity for ALL of the teachers in the district to assemble in one spot for a day of teacher-provided sharing and self-selected workshops. I recall this one particular day, because yet again, the Director of Education (different director, mind) took the opportunity to speak to all of the assembled teachers (I’ll say perhaps 1 300 at the time). The wonderful impact upon me was again to reinforce that we, as a massed collective, newer and experienced teachers alike, were all working together to achieve a common vision. Again, powerful, motivating and, I think, important.

“If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”
— Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.”
— Benjamin Disraeli

DistrictAddressShortly thereafter we lost close to half of our PA days, and (regardless of that) never since have we had an opportunity to assemble as a whole district group to hear the Director speak and feel that common bond of pulling together with a shared and enumerated vision. The Director still has an address each August for the school administrators and central office staff, but it’s by invitation only, and the closest we get to it is the chance to download a narrated Powerpoint slide deck. Maybe this year’s address will be video recorded and posted for all to view, but somehow, something is lost without the face-to-face oration, without that opportunity to physically gather together and participate, and without that serendipitous moment to maybe have a chat with the Director.

So then

  • Is this the norm within education organizations today?
  • Is the collaborative development and sharing of a “big picture” direction part of your experience?
  • How do you draw strength, support, and validation for the mission that you take to your classroom and your students?
  • From whence comes your vision?

One School's Vision 1

 in Leadership / Vision  tagged HWDSB / school renewal by

The recent appearances of Tornados here in Ontario (including both Watches and Warnings from Environment Canada in my area) have reminded me of a most excellent entry submitted to the NECC 2009 Digital Storytelling Contest. I first viewed this film back in June, while perusing the various entries, prior to attending NECC in DC.

At the time, I was struck by the irony inherent in the story, in which a school, devastated by a tornado strike, was fortunate enough to benefit from considerable leadership so as to re-vision the school to coincide with the re-building and repairs. Build for the future, rather than re-build the past. (I was shortly thereafter pleasantly surprised when I realized that the school was from a district here within Ontario. I was even more pleased to have the opportunity to meet up with the film’s creator and her principal at NECC a few short weeks later, and sitting down to chat with them over dinner.)

Following damage by a tornado and a two-year reconstruction, Lawfield Elementary School in Hamilton Wentworth DSB, Ontario reopened with a newly revitalized vision. View this short 5 minute video to see how learning is described for the 21st Century learners.

So?

Opportunities for school plant renewal do not come frequently. In many non-growth districts (read outside of major metropolitan areas experiencing urban sprawl), declining enrollment typically results in the converse, school closures. Opportunities to infuse new money into buildings and re-allocate resources for major expenditures are very rare. Amortizing payments for renewal on a building that you may or may not need twenty years down the road can give one considerable pause for thought. As a simple example, consider something as ubiquitous as the kitchen (classroom) sink. Chances are, if they weren’t installing the plumbing for sinks in classrooms when a school was built (50 years ago, say), then those classrooms today STILL do not have sinks or running water — tearing up the concrete floors to run piping is just too expensive — so it will never happen in that building. (And let’s not even touch the issue of portables …)

One must seize the opportunity to renew for the long term when the opportunity arises.

How would YOU approach the opportunity of school renewal?

a) in terms of program re-vision/re-focus/re-structure?
b) in terms of teaching spaces (classrooms, if you wish)?
c) in terms of resources?

Please take a moment to comment with your list of essentials or wishes.
Rationales are also most welcome!

Empowering the 21st Century Superintendent

 in Leadership / Vision  tagged empowerment / Leadership / learning / technology / Vision by

As one of a number of an interview series with superintendents engaged in the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), this selection features district administrators talking about students, learning in the 21st century, technology, and leadership.

Check out the terms these folks are using during this short video.  Is this the vocabulary of a 21st Century Superintendent?

21 Century Superintendent Wordle

Also consider viewing Learning to Change, Changing to Learn and other videos on the CoSN channel.

Technology in Education: What is Your Vision?

 in Leadership / Vision  tagged Leadership / LeadershipDay2009 / Vision by
Scott McLeod's call for Educational Bloggers to write about Leadership in Ed Tech

Educational Bloggers write about the need for Leadership for technology in education.

Today is Leadership Day, 2009.

You are a Leader. As a leader, what is your vision?

What is your vision for learning in the 21st Century? What does it mean to be a learner and an educator in 2009? What role will technology play in education in the years to come?

I’m sure you have your own understanding of what it means to be a leader. Whether your role is officially recognized as such, or whether you lead more from the sidelines, you are reading this because you care about what it means to demonstrate leadership in education. And regardless of whether you are in an officially recognized leadership role or not, you’ve probably been exposed to a number of models and theories that espouse what leadership looks like in schools.

But if we cut to the quick, there are some key competencies that most would agree are reflected in effective leadership:

  • Leaders must make informed, sometimes difficult decisions.
  • Leaders must continually listen, think, and engage with the various stakeholders (in education, we think of students, teachers, administrators, parents, community leaders, governments).
  • Leaders must act as role models.
  • Leaders must seek out and enable leadership in others.
  • Leaders must be prepared to espouse a vision, and act as a champion in moving that vision forward.

    Education changed in response to the Industrial Age. Education was re-vamped in response to the Space Age. And now, once again, education needs to be re-assessed in light of the Information Age.

There are many questions that beg to be answered when we take time to envision how learning, educating, and the role of schools will and must evolve in the coming months and years.  You will no doubt have your own questions about how learning is changing.

I invite you to consider the following:

What is my vision for learning in my school? Managing a school and leading a school are not the same. When I think of what learning looks like in my school when everything is going well, what do I see? What are the learners doing? What are the educators doing? What are we doing this year that we weren’t doing before? Is this my vision, or is this someone else’s vision? Is it a shared vision?

How can I act to better enable learning for the children in my school? Being a learner today is not the same as being a student then. Ask yourself, do we need the children in our schools these days to be students, or do we need them to be active learners? What does this mean? What is my role in helping to support this distinction in our process? And what must we do differently to support better learning?

How can I act to better empower the educators in my school? The subject-matter-expert transmitting expertise to students is the old-school industrial model. Teachers today must extend their practice in response to the changing tide of information. How can I dialogue with my staff to help them collaborate in responding to the needs of the children who attend our school? Who can I support and who do I need to draw out? What can I do to support authentic Professional Learning Communities and Personal/Professional Learning Networks for my staff?

What role does technology play today in the lives of our students, and how are emerging technologies changing the nature of learning? The 2.0 Web and modern technologies cannot ‘end’ at 8:45 a.m. when school begins and ‘start up’ again at 3:30 p.m. when school lets out. How informed am I with regards to modern technologies and the role they will plan in transforming education? Who can I turn to to better understand what’s going on? What are our school and system short/long-term goals for making better use of these technologies to support learning?

What can I do as a leader to ensure that our students are responsibly cared for at school, while at the same time allowing them to engage in meaningful projects in the local and global community? Finding solutions to social and environmental issues of our day will require the active engagement of our leaders of the future, our children. How can we ensure that our learners are learning to engage in authentic problem solving opportunities? How can we help learners to develop their skills with the support of experts and co-learners from our community and other parts of the globe?

These are large questions, not easily answered in a single sitting. But they can be answered. A vision can be articulated. And then acted upon.

What is your vision?

I’ll be posting another part to this, looking to provide links to resources that might provoke some discussion. You can also check out the responses to Scott McLeod’s Leadership Day 2009 call — there’s bound to be a lot there!